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Show Edwin M. Wheelock. forth its ".John" nml forerunner. The sol 'mn exorluf; of the Atn<'rican slave has b<'gun. 'Vh<:n tlH' national :-;in of' Egypt had grown <'normou: and extreme, TriE SL'tHTf made its lir~t appeal to tlw con:-;eien<"c, _ the moral in~tinel,- the religious f; nse of' the ffvntling people. To the gov ·rnment, in cn,rnntc in l')harnoh, the. e Rolemn words were, lo..,vly thundered: ~'Thus !":tith the I.Jonl, let my people go that they mny s rvc me. I have snn!ly set>n the aflliction of my p<'opl<:', aml have heanl th ' ir cry, nnd I nm come down to Llclivcr them. 1 know the oppression wlt<'r<'by they are oppres~ <1, and have hranl th •ir sorrow." And when the nation had . hown itself hanlcn d in inhumanity and in, and every moral nnd spiritual ~•ppe:ll had been Yainly made, then we rc•atl that the "Lord plaguctl E~ypt." The chalice of agony they l•ad . o foully fore •d npon th •ir lorlorn l>r(•thrcn, wa. pre::~sc<l to their own lip~, nnd thn s lavchold rs yield<><l to tcrnn· what th 'Y had brazenly denicu to jm;tice and right. This is the record of slan·ry always a11d en.: ry wltrre. Never y ·t in the hi ..;tory of man was a tyr:mL race known to loo:;cn its g r~l :-;p of the victim':-~ throat, sa \'C by tltc pressure of force. Those m.islaken frit>IHls of' th' ~ lav <', who :-;o •am tly deprecate and t'OtHl•mn thaL " war cloud 110 larger than a man's hand" which has just broken ovrr Virginia, and who teach, through pulpiL and pr ss, that the Am ·rican Lwmln1en can only rcarh fre dom throngh purely moral and peaceable mean., would do well to remember that n ver yet, nev •r y 'tin tile experience of :ix tll0nsa11d y a r;o;, have the fetter;-; been melted o{l' from a race of -lave· by menn. purely peaceable and moral And 1 t tho ·c who ·ay that four millions of our people ran only gain the rights of manhood through the ('011- ent of one quarter of a. million who l1ourly roh a1Hl <'n:.;la,·e th ' tn, not fo1·gct that compttl-;o ry law~, or the wrath of iu;;urrcction alone, h~~ eYer forced tba t con:-;<.·nt and 111<tdu the slave-owner willing. Ah! thi · base pn·judice of ca ·tc, this Edwin !vL Whe lock. 179 scorn of a d ~p i sed ra<'' because of th ·ir color, how it infects even our nol>l•st min<b! Tho · eloquent men who, four yc•ars ngo when the faint, far-off . haclow of ~lav ry fc1l npon white nwn in Kansa. , sounded f~u· and wide th Revolutionary go::<p ·1, " H t~;-; i ~tanre to tyrants is obed ience to God," and who calle<l Sharp ·'s rifle. a." moral ngcnry:" now, when th •. ame "moral :w( nC'y," in the hands of' the same mr.n, i untt ling in a C<lll:-i(' (';~·more dcYotcd and divinr, preaeh the ~oft South-side notes of' submi. sion and pe:trn whieh Sl:w ry lov s so wt• ll to hc•:t r. Could that l>c right in':);) which is so sho<'ki rwly wroncr in n " 'l5n? Can inspiration bc·romc in~anity as th t~ skin sbad<'s from <lark to pal<'? I b •licYc thc·rc~ i::; a gn•nt tnrtlt in the cloetrinc of' Non-rc;-;istancc; I ('On~iclc•r it as prrhaps th <' consummat' :l.tHl p<~ rf'<•e.t flow<'r of' 1hristianity. Btt t I :tlso know that both th AnH•riean Church atHl the• Amni<':tll .S1~1 te have always r cj<'elr<l an<l d<·ridt•d that doet rirw. They in cukate the tluty of' (()l'('iblc rrsistanc·e to ng-gn•s:-ion, or sc•lf-dd(·ncc, of taking the life~ of' ofl(•ndcrs. They h:t\'C no ri ~ht to prescribe to forty hundrecls of thou:o;arHl~ of our nation a line of duty th<'y r <'jcct for th<'m~c· l vr · . In rc·kbrating Bunl«'I'llill, the ri ghl 1o coml 'mn llaqwr's F erry cli~:tp]H':U'.'. For more than half a ·cntury th Spirit of Co<l hn~, thr01 tglt the religion, the eons ·i cllcc, the humnnc in. tinrt~, the heroic tmditions of our land, b •en pl acling with the Anwrican Pharaoh to let his people go. nut in vain. Rlan·ry W:\::1 too potent tor th •m all; now the "l)bgue, " arc eoming. J ohn Brown is the fir~t l)larrue l:tun<"hcd by .Tcho\·ah nL tit' head of' this n immcn c and •mbodicd wiekcdrw::;. . The others will follow, "and then cometh the end." IIe i~, like his wunc akc in Jucl a, not the "One that sl10uld eome." lie did not bring freedom to thnt cru:'hl'd and trodden race, but he i:-; the "Forcrunnc1·"- the voice in the lave wildcrnc:-;~, crying to a nation dead 1n t rc·spn~:<'S anti . in. , "Repent, reform, for the terril.Jlc kingtlom of GoJ is at hand ! " |
